We Need a New Elevator
by Kittyclaw
Summary: Oneshot. Jeremy knew it was going to be an odd day. He knew it the moment he woke up. Why he didn't just stay in bed however, he'll never know. Prize fic for Railen.


**About a month and a half ago the forum I am a moderator of held a Mock Election. Railen was the winner of Mr. Lyoko, and so won a story of his choice writen by yours truly. He asked for a fic that was a sort of sequel to Snowprincessmossy's fic "They Wanted Pengiuns", so basically a story using some of our more recent jokes and quirks. Here's the end result- 12 pages of our crazy in story form. I've done my best to write it in a way that even if you don't know the jokes at all you'll still laugh. Even so, I will include the quotes that inspired different parts in the page breaks for you all. I can't think of much more to say except to enjoy! And congratulation Railen! I hope you like it and it's what you wanted :)**

_-"Good stories are always like "How much can I really babble on before I get really annoying?"."-_

"Aelita," Jeremy whispered, "I-I have something to tell you."

"Really?" Aelita asked, her green eyes wide and bright. "That's funny, I have something I needed to tell you too."

"Really?" Jeremy asked. Aelita nodded.

"You go first," they said in unison, which caused them both to blush.

"You should go first," Aelita said. She noticed Jeremy opening his mouth to suggest the opposite and promptly cut him off. "No, I want you to go first," she said, stopping his objection before he could make it.

"Okay, if you're sure," Jeremy said. He then sighed, licking his lips nervously. Aelita rested a supportive hand on his knee and gave him an encouraging smile. Jeremy returned it. "Okay," he said, taking a deep breath. "Aelita, I…ever since I first saw you I've felt…And now that you're here on Earth I…" Jeremy paused, taking another breath. "Aelita, I love you."

Aelita's smile fell from her face and she pulled her hand away. It wasn't the reaction Jeremy was quite expecting, or hoping for.

"Oh Jeremy," she said, "I'm so sorry. I-I just don't feel the same way. And I, well I like someone else."

"Wha…?" Jeremy was sure he could feel his heart crumbling into little pieces. "Who?"

"Well…" Aelita started sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Well?" Jeremy repeated. "Is it Odd? Or Ulrich?...It's not William is it?"

"Oh no, nothing like that," Aelita said with a small laugh.

"Then who?"

"…You know the Scyphozoa?"

Jeremy was sure his heart skipped about four beats as he stared dumbstruck at Aelita.

"The…Scyphozoa?" he asked, his voice flat. "You're rejecting me…for Xana's _jellyfish_?"

A slightly dreamy look came over Aelita's features. "Yes, I am."

"_Why_?"

Aelita shrugged. "It's, well it's the _Scyphozoa._ He's just -"

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Jeremy sat up with a start, staring wild eyed around his room as his alarm clock blared its seven o'clock wake up call. After a few seconds of orienting himself he dropped back onto his pillow, sighing heavily.

"I hate this day," he mumbled to himself, rolling over and smashing his face into his pillow. "And it hasn't even started yet."

_-"Fact 3948759384: Aelita is not a jellyfish." "Nor is she attracted to them" "That we know of." -_

After lying in bed for another ten minutes contemplating the idea of just not getting up today, the alarm clock's beeping, which was steadily growing in loudness, finally had Jeremy climbing from his bed. He stumbled over to his desk and turned off the screeching alarm before dropping into his computer chair, muffling a yawn as he turned on his monitor. The machine came to life with a steady hum, the screen flickering on to reveal a mess of data filled windows left over from Jeremy's late night working. Clearing them away, Jeremy's mouse searched the desktop for a few seconds before finding what it wanted.

With a double click Jeremy's email popped onto the screen. Swallowing back another yawn Jeremy watched as a little window popped open, reading "Receiving Message 1 of 7". Seven huh? Jeremy wasn't used to getting any emails other than from home, so this was exciting.

The first was from the expected source, a "How are you?" message from mom where she dumped a week's worth of worry out on her unsuspecting keyboard. How was school going, was everything good with his friends, was he eating enough, did he always have clean underwear? There was also a little reminder at the end that his mother always added, that he not do anything he might later regret (along with the bit his father added when mom wasn't looking, that he at least not do it in his dorm). Rolling his eyes Jeremy left that message to be answered later, and opened the next one.

…Oh my. That…how did they?...oh my. Staring at his screen, or more specifically the email opened on it, Jeremy wondered how on Earth this website… (oh dear, that didn't sound kid friendly) might have gotten his email address. Quickly shaking his head Jeremy pulled his attention from the scantily clad Kangaroo that was now sitting on his screen and searched the email for a link to click that would allow him to remove his email from this website's subscription list. Since he had not signed up on this site as the message suggested he had, he wanted to be rid of it as quickly as possible.

To his dismay he wasn't able to find his unsubscribe link. Though what he found instead left his sorrow forgotten, replaced with something a bit more on the side of anger. Down at the very bottom of the email was a happy little message that read "Dear Mr. Della Robbia, thank you for joining ! We hope you will enjoy all that we have to offer-".

Delete.

Well, that was one way to start off the day, with a reminder to never give your email to your less than perfectly normal friends. Sighing, Jeremy decided he would deal with Odd later. Focusing back on his email he opened the next message.

_MR. DELLA ROBBIA, THANK YOU FOR JOINING UNDERSEA ADULT WORLD! WE WOULD LIKE TO-_

Delete. Great. There was more than one. Next message.

_Mr. Della Robbia, we would like to thank you for sighing up with Sexy Beast, the premium-_

Delete. Next.

_**Thank you for joining the Coral Club Mr. Della Robbia. As the only website that caters to the interesting and unique love that is coral we-**_

Delete.

He was going to kill that boy. He really was. He wasn't too sure he wanted to see what the other emails were. But hey, they couldn't all be porn solicitations…right? He clicked the next message warily.

**WELCOME TO LEATHER INCORPORATED MR. DELLA ROBBIA. WITH YOUR NEW SUBSCRIPTION WE WOULD LIKE TO SEND YOU ONE COMPLIMENTARY-**

Delete. _Thunk_.

Jeremy let his head fall against the desk. He even contemplated hitting it again. Harder. Maybe he would just happen to knock himself out and maybe forget all about this morning. That would be nice. Sighing he sat back up, eyeing the last email. Did he really want to check it? Was he really that curious about his emails? Or, Odd's emails rather.

Yes. Sadly, yes he was. And so, he clicked.

_Hello Mr. Odd Della Robbia, and welcome to Moose Monthly! The monthly news letter that is all moose, all the time. This month's moose is the lovely Western Moose (Alces alces Anderson) which is found throughout the region of Western Canada-_

Jeremy found he wasn't quite sure what to do with this one. So he left it in his inbox and then quickly closed his email, lest any more of Odd's unwanted messages arrive. For a moment he stared at his computer, again seriously contemplating spending the day buried under his blankets. But school beckoned, and he found he couldn't ignore it simply because his day was starting off a little…funky.

Shaking his head for what seemed like the fifth time that morning, Jeremy left his computer and headed over to his bed, kneeling down beside it and pulling open one of the drawers set into its base. After rummaging around for a bit he pulled out his towel, along with a bag containing all his soaps and shampoos. These he gathered up, along with his room key from his bed side table, and then headed out of his room, locking his door behind him. He then began his usual trek down the hall to the bathroom.

The journey was rather uneventful; the hallways were pretty empty at the time as everyone was either already in the showers or still asleep (which was precisely why Jeremy chose to make his journey at this time). It wasn't until he was almost at the showers that Jeremy ran into a fellow student, a rather disgruntled looking William who was gripping his towel tightly around his waist and clutching a bar of soap as he glared over his shoulder at the bathroom.

"Good morning," Jeremy said cheerily. He raised an eyebrow when William's response was only to scowl.

"You won't be saying that after you try to shower with those two idiots in there," he said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder towards the bathroom door.

"Why?" Jeremy asked. "Who's in there?" Just then Jeremy caught the sound of a familiar voice as it echoed out of the bathroom and into the hall.

"Ulrich! Watch this!" it shouted.

"No Odd, we need to finish getting ready," another familiar voice responded, sounding exasperated.

"No, watch!"

"Odd-"

"Wheeeee!"

_Crash_. For a few seconds there was silence, and then a towel slowly fluttered out the open bathroom door.

"Uh, Ulrich? Could you…?"

"…No."

"Ah," Jeremy said, staring at the bathroom door. "Odd's in there."

"Yep," William said with a nod. He gave Jeremy a pat on the shoulder. "Good luck." And with that the dark haired boy continued along down the hall, leaving Jeremy to deal with his friends. Snatching up Odd's lost towel along the way, Jeremy headed inside to see what mayhem the two boys had caused. He found Ulrich standing beside one of the shower stalls, glaring at the hand protruding from under its door.

"Please?" the hand's owner begged, the hand waving around slightly.

"No Odd," Ulrich said. "You were the one dumb enough to lose it in the first place, so you can be the one to go and get it."

"You're a lousy friend, you know that?" Odd asked.

"Thanks Odd," Ulrich said. "I'll make sure to remember that next time you forget to do your homework and need to copy mine."

"Good morning you two," Jeremy said, interrupting the little verbal spar before it could escalate. Not that he was worried about the pair actually getting into a fight, it was just that banter like this had a tendency to turn into a wrestling match, and Jeremy for one was quite content to have Odd not come flying out of his stall and tackle Ulrich in his present state of dress (or lack there of).

"Morning Jeremy," Ulrich said. The scowl he'd been wearing while he'd been talking to Odd turned into a grin when he noticed that Jeremy had found the blonde's towel.

"Hey Einstein!" Odd shouted, waving his hand in hello.

"Hi Ulrich, Hey Odd," Jeremy said, making his way over to the stall next to Odd's. "Sleep well?"

"Pretty good," Ulrich said, taking the stall on Jeremy's other side. "You?"

"Uh, I've had better nights."

"Yeah, slept like a log," Odd said. "Uh, Jeremy?"

"Yes Odd?"

"When you were outside, you didn't happen to see a towel lying around did you?"

"Hmm," Jeremy answered thoughtfully as he set down his stuff, hanging up his own towel on the back of his stall door as he looked at Odd's. "This towel, was it purple by any chance?"

"Yeah!" Odd called. "Did you see it?"

"Nope, sorry," Jeremy answered. Odd gave a half suppressed whine, while he could hear Ulrich choking back a laugh. Rolling his eyes, Jeremy tossed the towel over the wall separating his stall from Odd's. He heard the heavy material land with a soft _fump_ followed by a happy shout from Odd, who then scrambled up from where he lay on the floor.

"Thanks whoever threw this!" he shouted. There was a dull thud from Ulrich's shower. Jeremy got the impression it was from a forehead meeting a wall. A few seconds later Ulrich's shower turned on, and steam and water began making its way into Jeremy's stall. Quickly the blonde kicked off his slippers and stripped out of his pajamas, setting the clothes up on a small shelf with his bag and then turning on his own faucet.

The spray of hot water felt amazing. For a few minutes Jeremy just stood under the jet of water, letting it wash away his so far unappealing morning. He then fumbled for his shampoo, finding the bottle and squirting some of the liquid straight onto his hair. He was starting to work it into a nice lather when the sound of something being dropped echoed over from Odd's stall. It was followed seconds later by a bar of soap skittering into Jeremy's stall.

"I got it!" Odd shouted, and a second later an arm was reaching around blindly under the stall's dividing wall. Eyes going wide, Jeremy quickly covered himself with soapy hands.

"Odd, I can just kick it back over," he said, taking a step forward.

"No, no, I got it," Odd said, waving Jeremy off. He then returned to smacking at the wet tiles in search of his runaway soap. Jeremy watched Odd's fruitless efforts with an flat expression, although it wasn't until there were two hands exploring the floor that he finally stepped forward and kicked the soap back to where it had come from. Odd's hands went still for a moment, and then vanished with a quick "Thanks Jer." Jeremy just rolled his eyes. This was starting to look like the beginnings of a very long day.

_-"And WHY are you guys showering with Rai?" "Cause we're married. And SOMEONE has to get the soap when I drop it."-_

Once finished showering the boys donned towels, gathered up their soap, and began the trek towards their dorms. "Hey Jeremy," Odd said as they walked, "I have a question."

"Yes?"

"You know that assignment Mrs. Hertz gave us last night?"

"The one about converting measurements?"

"That's the one!" Odd answered cheerfully. "You didn't happen to finish it by any chance, did you?"

"No Odd, you can't copy my homework," Jeremy answered flatly.

"Aww," the blonde whined, "But I have to! I need to turn this worksheet in to pass the semester. And I can't copy Ulrich's since he had no idea what he was doing."

"I did too!" Ulrich defended, swinging at Odd with the shirt he was carrying. Odd ducked behind Jeremy to avoid the incoming blow.

"Last time I checked," he said, glaring at the brunet, "age could not be converted into metric. I know _that_ much at least."

Ulrich pulled a face at the blonde, whose response with a cheeky grin. "Behave you two," Jeremy admonished as they reached Ulrich and Odd's shared dorm. "I hope I can leave the two of you to get dressed by yourselves without destroying something," the blonde said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"Yes mom," Ulrich said with a smirk, while Odd gave Jeremy a crisp salute. Jeremy rolled his eyes at the pair, then pointed to their dorm room's door. Just as Odd and Ulrich started heading for the door however, an odd sound picked up, seemingly from outside.

"What is that?" Ulrich asked, looking at his companions in confusion. Jeremy shrugged.

"It sounds like the lawnmowers the gardeners use," Odd said, "you know, the riding ones?"

"But I thought they only mowed the grass on Sunday when we don't have classes," Jeremy said.

"Maybe they lost their calendars and got confused," Odd suggested. Ulrich rolled his eyes.

"Or maybe Xana's up to something."

As if to prove Ulrich's words the people already outside chose that moment to begin screaming. Ulrich quickly darted into his room, Odd and Jeremy right behind him as he ran up to his window to see what was going on outside.

"Yeah, that definitely looks like a Xana attack," Odd said. The others found they had to agree.

From their window the trio could see a pair of riding lawnmowers careening about the schools courtyard, slamming into anything and everything that was or wasn't in their way. Students were running left and right trying to escape the killer lawnmowers.

"What is Xana thinking?" Ulrich asked, wincing as one of the lawnmowers almost sideswiped the dorm building.

"I don't know," Jeremy said, "But we need to stop him before someone gets killed."

"Don't you think we should get dressed first?" Odd asked as Jeremy and Ulrich hurried towards the door.

"No time!" Jeremy called as he disappeared into the hall. "Besides, you don't need clothes to go to Lyoko!"

"You don't know that!" Odd shouted after him. But his efforts were futile, as both Jeremy and Ulrich had already vanished. Sighing in defeat, Odd trudged after them, thought he had one more complaint to make as he did.

"If I show up naked on Lyoko I'm never talking to either of you ever again!"

_- "How old is Railen, anyway?" "Fifteen." "…Is that in standard or metric?"-_

"Now what?"

"I don't know. I hadn't really thought this far ahead."

Ulrich and Odd both turned to stare at Jeremy. The blonde shrugged at them. "You two are the ones who do all the fighting, you think of something."

"I vote we stay here," Odd said. Ulrich swatted him.

"I'm not staying under this bench forever."

The others gave this sentiment some thought, and then decided that they agreed. For the trio was, indeed, stuffed under a bench. They had chosen to dive under it after having been rushed by a lawnmower the second they had immerged from the dorms. One of the lawnmowers had tackled the bench in an attempt to get at the boys, but the wooden seat had held firm, and the lawnmower had quickly gone back to its random destruction.

"We need some way to distract them," Jeremy said. Both he and Ulrich then turned to look at Odd.

"Wha-oh," Odd sighed. "No, I'm not going to be bait for a bunch of rampaging lawnmowers. So you can forget that idea right now, cause it's not going to happen."

_-"I LOVE MY LAWNMOWERS!" "Someone said my name?"-_

New friends he decided. That was what he was getting himself after this, a whole bunch of new friends. Friends who wouldn't send him off to be bait for killer rampaging lawnmowers while wearing nothing but a towel.

Crouched beside a tree Odd watched the lawnmowers, who were currently entertaining themselves by bashing into the cafeteria. He then looked over to his friends, still tucked away under the bench. They gave him encouraging gestures. Odd scowled at them.

Turning back to the lawnmowers he tried to think of how exactly he was supposed to get their attention. He wasn't sure if shouting at them would work, after all lawnmowers didn't exactly have ears. Maybe if he threw something? It was the best plan he had come up with so far, and not being one to sit around and think of all his options before picking one, Odd bent down and scooped up a large rock and then preceded to chuck it at the closest lawnmower. It smacked into the vehicle's side with a bang, leaving a large dent in the hull. The lawnmower stopped its attack on the cafeteria and spun around, looking for the source of the rock.

"I'm so going to regret this," Odd murmured as he leapt out from behind his hiding place. "Hey you!" he shouted, waving his arms wildly. The lawnmower turned his way. "Yeah you, you stupid bucket of bolts! Come and get me!"

The lawnmower didn't need telling twice. It shot towards Odd with a speed the blonde hadn't been expecting. For a moment Odd just stared at the lawnmower, but his surprise didn't last long and as soon as it had worn off he spun around, scrambling up the trunk of the tree behind him. Just as he was reaching for a branch to latch onto the lawnmower crashed into the tree, knocking the teen loose. Odd fell from the tree, landing with a thump in one of the last places he would have wanted to.

The driver's seat of the lawnmower.

"Oh crap," Odd muttered. The lawnmower under him gave a sudden jerk, which almost dislodged Odd from his seat. He quickly latched onto the steering wheel as the lawnmower gave another lurch. Shuffling his foot around he found the brake pedal and pushed it to the floor. The lawnmower's momentum stopped, its engine giving off a loud grinding sound as it fought against Odd, who grinned to himself as he spotted Jeremy and Ulrich vanishing into the woods.

These lawnmowers weren't so tough after all Odd decided. Although, it was a little odd that Xana hadn't just disabled the brakes. Now why would he forget to do that?

Odd soon realized why- Xana had another lawnmower at his disposal. A lawnmower that he sent crashing into Odd's.

The impact tossed Odd from the first mower and onto the ground a good twenty feet away. Odd hit the ground hard, but he wasn't going to get a chance to lay there and recover- while the lawnmower he'd been sitting in had been destroyed in the crash, the second one was still working, and was getting ready to head right for him.

Quickly Odd bounced back to his feet and, clutching his towel tightly around his waist, made a mad dash for the tree line only a few hundred feet away. He could hear the mower pursuing him as it revved its engine, speeding after him at speeds the mower had probably never been intended to reach. However, as fast as a Xana possessed lawnmower might be able to go, a terrified out of his mind Odd could go faster. He hit the trees just ahead of the lawnmower, ducking between two trees with only a foot of space between them. When the lawnmower tried to follow him it hit the two trees head on and was thrown backwards.

Odd didn't hang back to gloat in his victory, not slowing in the slightest as he sprinted in the direction of the sewer, still clinging tightly to his towel.

As soon as this was all over, he told himself, he was getting himself a group of new, normal friends.

_-"QUICK" "TO THE GLOMP CAVE?"-_

The ride to the factory was rather awkward to say the least, the boys all struggling to find ways to both ride skateboards and scooters at full speed while also keeping their towels on, with the climb up the ladder being not much better- the trio deciding to each take turns going up the ladder instead of following right behind one another. Swinging down the ropes to the elevator involved a similar plan, with one boy taking a swing while the others pretended to find something more interesting to watch in the other direction. Eventually they were all standing in the elevator, all still looking decent- or as decent as one can look dressed only in a towel.

"Let's agree right now," Odd said as Jeremy hit the button to send them down. "We never again skip getting dressed to save time."

"Agreed," Ulrich said, pulling his towel tighter. Jeremy nodded.

"Agreed."

"Good," Odd said. "So Jeremy, since I was so busy protecting you two from evil lawnmowers I haven't gotten to find out yet whether or not you've called Yumi."

"I called her," Jeremy said. "She's going to finish getting ready and then come meet us."

"Oh, so she gets to get dressed but we don't?" Ulrich asked.

"Yeah," Odd whined, "we could have had a towel party!"

Jeremy and Ulrich turned to stare at Odd.

"Or not," he said with a shrug.

The elevator chose that exact moment to give a sudden, loud groan, the car lurching to a stop.

"…What just happened?" Odd asked, looking around the elevator car. He scowled at the lights flickered off.

"We stopped," Ulrich told him.

"Obviously," Odd said, crossing his arms and sticking out his tongue. Ulrich wrinkled his nose at him.

"Ask a stupid question."

"Do you think it's Xana?" he asked Jeremy, interrupting the pair.

"It might be," Jeremy said. "We should get out of here and get to the computer."

"Good plan," Ulrich said. He then motioned for Odd to join him. "Odd, I'll lift you up so you can open the hatch at the top, then you can help lift us out."

"Why does it seem like I'm doing all the work today?" Odd whined. Ulrich ignored him, linking his fingers together and crouching down to provide Odd a point of leverage. Odd placed his foot in Ulrich's hands and the brunet lifted him up, carefully averting his eyes as he did do. In one movement Odd reached up and shoved the hatch door aside and then grabbed the edge of the new opening. With a push from Ulrich he was able to climb up through the opening, scrambling up on top of the elevator. He then turned around, kneeling at the hole and reaching his arms down to grab the next person. "You're up Jeremy!"

With a boost from Ulrich and a pull from Odd Jeremy was soon atop the elevator as well. Ulrich then jumped up to grab Odd's hands, and both Odd and Jeremy hauled him out of the elevator.

"Now where to?" Odd asked. Jeremy pointed to an opening in the side of the elevator shaft.

"We should be able to get to the ladder that goes to the supercomputer through there." Ulrich stuck his head through the opening.

"Yep, it's here," he said, He then climbed the rest of the way through the hole. Jeremy watched him go, then turned to look at Odd, who motioned for him to go first. Jeremy scrambled through the opening and began hurrying down the ladder as Odd quickly followed suit. It didn't take very long before light from the supercomputer lit the little tunnel and then Jeremy was in the supercomputer room, where Ulrich was waiting below. As soon as he was off of the ladder he hurried over to the computer, taking a seat and tapping a few of the keys as he hooked the headset over his ear.

"Aelita, are you there?" An image of the pink haired AI didn't appear on the screen, though her voice floated through Jeremy's headset.

"_Oh, hello Jeremy,"_ she said. _"I didn't know you were planning on stopping by today!"_

"We have a problem," Jeremy said, "Xana's on the attack again. I'm going to send Ulrich and Odd in, Yumi should be here soon."

"_Uh, okay," _Aelita said. She sounded almost…nervous maybe?

"Is something wrong Aelita?" Jeremy asked.

"_Oh no, nothing's wrong," _she answered. _"Send them over when you're ready!"_

"Alright then," Jeremy said. He spun around in his seat to tell Odd and Ulrich to get going when something else caught his attention- the elevator doors sliding open. Odd and Ulrich immediately took defensive stances as the doors opened, ready for whatever it was that Xana was going to launch at them next. Slowly the doors finished opening revealing-

"Uh, hey guy- whoa. Is this our new plan of attack against Xana? Half dressed boys?"

"Yumi?" The three boys stared in surprise at Yumi while she stared right back, her eyebrows raised almost to her hairline.

"How did you get the elevator to work?"

"I just got in and pushed the button," she said. "Why are none of you wearing clothes?"

"Long story," Ulrich said. He then stepped into the elevator, motioning for Odd to follow him. "Come on, let's get to Lyoko."

The group rode down to the scanner room in silence, Yumi watching Odd and Ulrich in confusion as the boys clung to their towels, continually giving the elevator suspicious looks. Once in the scanner room they headed for their scanners.

"_You'll be heading to the forest sector," _Jeremy told them. _"I don't see any monsters yet but I'm sure Xana will be sending some to greet you, so be careful!"_

"Aren't we always?" Odd asked. Jeremy chose not to answer, instead starting up the virtualization.

"_Transfer Ulrich. Transfer Yumi. Transfer Odd."_

The scanner doors slid shut, Ulrich having to be quick not to get his towel caught in them.

"_Scanner Ulrich. Scanner Yumi. Scanner Odd."_

A gust of wind shot up from the floor of the scanner, and Odd had to quickly wrestle his towel back down around his legs.

"_Virtualization."_

_-"Yes, you're my naked Aelita." "You know when jer isn't looking Aelita runs around Lyoko naked."-_

The sky filled with the beep and whir of beings virtualizing, and a few seconds later the forms of Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi appeared. They hovered in the sky for a moment, before dropping to the ground, each landing in a graceful crouch. Well, Odd's was really more of a controlled fall, the blonde more worried about covering up any possible exposure then landing feet first.

"Odd, you can relax," Ulrich said. "You have clothes."

"I do?" Odd asked. He looked down, checking himself over. He grinned at the sight of the familiar purple suit. "I do!"

"Yes you do," Ulrich said. "Can we get going now?"

"Please," Yumi said. She stared to walk in the direction of the tower when she paused, turning to look at the boys. "Where's Aelita?"

"Umm," Ulrich said, looking at Odd. The blond shrugged.

"Aelita?" Odd called, looking around.

"One moment!"

Exchanging looks, the trio turned to look at one of the sector's trees.

"Aelita?" Yumi called. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine!" Aelita called, her voice floating out from behind the tree. "I'll be out in a minute!"

"Are you sure you're okay back there?"

"Yes!" A moment later Aelita immerged from behind the tree, tugging at one of her armbands. She grinned at the group. "Okay, let's go!"

The group gave her and each other confused looks, but decided not to comment further as Aelita was already heading off in the direction of the tower. They hurried after her, not wanting to lose her after only just arriving.

"So," Aelita said once they'd caught up with her, "what kind of attack has Xana launched on Earth? A swarm of deadly insects?"

"Uh, not quite," Odd answered.

"More like a swarm of deadly lawnmowers," Ulrich said.

"Lawnmowers?" Yumi asked. "Jeremy forgot to mention that when he called."

"How could he have forgotten?" Odd asked, his expression appalled. "Those things tried to kill me! And it was _Jeremy's_ fault!"

"Sacrificing one for the good of many," Ulrich said. Odd scowled at him.

"Friends don't let friends be lawnmower bait."

"Guys, calm down," Yumi said, "They were just lawnmowers; it's not that big a deal."

"What's a lawnmower?"

The trio turned to look at Aelita.

"Uh…" Ulrich answered, glancing at Odd.

"We'll tell you later princess."

"_I hate to interrupt this wonderful chat," _Jeremy said, his voice floating down from above. _"But you have some visitors headed your way. Three Kankrelats."_

"Looks like Xana is packing light today," Odd said as he and Ulrich pulled ahead of the girls.

"You never know," Ulrich said, "this could just be a distraction so he can bring in a few Megatanks."

"Are you ever positive about anything?" Odd asked.

"I'm positive that you'll never pass math," Ulrich answered. Odd was very tempted to just ignore the Kankrelats and attack his teammate instead.

"_Here they come guys,"_ Jeremy warned. Just as he spoke one of the Kankrelats appeared from around a bend in the sector's path.

_Dun-duh-dun!_

Odd stopped, staring at the Kankrelat. He then turned to Ulrich. "Did you hear that?" he asked.

"Hear what?" Ulrich asked.

_Dun-duh-dun!_

Now there were two Kankrelats.

"Oh," Ulrich said. "That."

"Since when do Xana's monsters come with an introduction?"

_Dun-duh-dun!_

"I don't know, but it's annoying," Ulrich answered.

"Well," Odd said, "I figure if we get rid of the Kankrelats, we get rid of the music. So, how about it?"

"As if there's a chance I would say no?"

One quick battle and three destroyed monsters later and the group was once more galloping along towards the tower.

_-"So we should have a theme song. Is what I'm thinking. Because that would just be cool." "It would. And it should play whenever we enter a room." "And briefly whenever someone mentions our name."-_

Tucked away in a distant corner of the virtual world of Lyoko the computer virus that was Xana lurked, scowling- if a computer virus was capable of such a thing- at the defeat of three of his wonderful monsters. Well, maybe not _wonderful _monsters, but still. Property damage was property damage, and Xana would not stand for it! He was going to do something to punish those horrible little brats once and for all! Immediately he went for the one thing he knew ruin their victory- activating a tower!

Wait. He'd already done that.

Darn.

Racking his virtual brain, Xana tried to come up with some other means of attack. He could always send more monsters! But what good would that do, other than more monsters ending up destroyed. If only he could simply complain to those horrible little humans about all their mess and mayhem! But how could he possibly do that? He was only an omnipotent lump of viral data what access to a wide assortment of computer data bases and-

If he had a forehead to smack and a hand to smack it with Xana would have been hitting himself.

Using his magnificent computer powers Xana opened himself a word document, and after a moment of serious thought, began to do whatever it was computer viruses did in lee of typing.

_-"Xana maybe be evil, but he does it with good words and proper grammar."-_

"_Do you see anything heading our way?"_

"Nothing," Jeremy said, leaning forward to scan his computer screen. "You guys are clear."

"_See, this is easy!" _Odd shouted.

"Don't get to cocky Odd," Jeremy said flatly. Ulrich laughed.

"_Odd not cocky?" _he said, _"That's like Lyoko without Xana!"_

The sound of a scuffle between the two friends then echoed over the headset.

"_Can you two pretend to be older than seven please?"_ Yumi asked.

"Yeah you two," Jeremy chimed in. "You can save the idiocy until after the school is no longer in danger.

"_Jeremy, you rui-fzzzt."_

"What the…?" Jeremy said, making a face at the static that had suddenly invaded his headset. "Odd?" he asked, tapping the ear piece. "Guys, can you hear me?"

The only response was simply more static, and then a loud pop that made Jeremy jump and then pull off the headset. "Come on," he hissed, tugging at the wire, "you can't break now, you never break!" With a scowl Jeremy turned to the computer and began pulling up the programs for the communications systems. He hadn't gotten far with it however when another window popped open on the screen. "What's this?" Jeremy asked quietly, pushing his glasses up her nose as he leaned towards the screen. Almost right away Jeremy recognized the familiar email window. Checking to see who it was, Jeremy did an almost whiplash causing double take.

From .

Because Jeremy hadn't had enough email grief for today. Why did he get the feeling this email wasn't going to be any better than the ones from earlier? Sighing, he once again adjusted his glasses and then began to read.

_Dear child who is sitting at this computer,_

_It has come to my attention that your compatriots, in their attempts to defeat myself and my evil plots, have indiscriminately been taking down innocent lives. The lives of the creatures that inhabit this world, who have done nothing but protect their home. I find it appalling that you and your companions feel the need to attack these relatively harmless beings. Some have families and children that you are depriving of parents. You should all be ashamed of yourselves._

_Also, your reckless destruction of property is affecting Lyoko's economy. Please desist in these actions._

_-Xana._

Jeremy's eyebrows rose higher and higher as he read and re-read the email, trying to process exactly what it was he was reading.

That was it, he decided. He was never checking his email ever again.

_-"And jer is like 'ZOMG GIVE ME BACK MY HEADSET ITS THE ONLY THING THAT MAKES ME COOL'."-_

"Jeremy, you ruin everything," Odd whined, although he did as he was told, he and Ulrich putting their wrestling match on hold.

"Be nice," Yumi chastised. Odd gave her a grin. Ulrich rolled his eyes.

"Let's focus shall we?" he said pointedly. "So Jeremy, we still clear?"

Silence answered him.

"Jeremy?" he repeated, glancing at his friends.

"Jeremy, are you still there?" Aelita called. Again no answer.

"Xana must be disrupting our communications," Yumi said, "looks like we're doing this one alone."

The group stared at one another silently.

"…can we even do that?" Odd asked after the quiet had stretched on long enough.

"The tower is only a short distance away," Aelita reasoned, pointing to where the glowing tower could be seen clearly through the trees. "I'm sure we could make it."

"But we don't know which way to go," Odd said, pointing to the fact that the tower was sitting on the very end of the forest path, with the way to get there at the moment unclear.

"We could figure it out," Yumi said. Ulrich nodded.

"But Jeremy is the one with the map," Odd pointed out.

"Odd, the tower isn't that far," Yumi said. "As long as we keep it in sight we should get their soon enough."

"Yeah," Ulrich said, nodding. "How hard could it be?"

_-"Wait, where in Nebraska are we going?" "Denver. Duh." "...Denver. Which is in Colorado?"-_

"How hard could it be?" Odd said, his tone mocking as he glared around the desert sector. Ulrich scowled at him.

"If I didn't think the only good that would come of it was you shutting up, I would stab you."

"Why don't you try getting us back first before we end up even more lost."

"How much more lost could we get?" Yumi asked. Odd shrugged.

"Considering I don't even know how we got _here, _I bet if we wait long enough we'll end up in like, Denver."

"I'm not that bad at directions," Ulrich whined. "I'm not going to lead us to Nebraska."

"…Nebraska?" Odd asked.

"Yes," Ulrich said with a nod. "Denver, Nebraska."

Both Yumi and Odd stared at their companion open mouthed.

"That's it," Odd said, "I vote that we Aelita leads from now on." Yumi nodded.

"Agreed."

Eventually the wayward group found their way back to the forest sector, although how they had crossed through between the different sectors in the first place would forever be a mystery. And as luck would have it, they had been deposited right at the end of the path leading strait to the activated tower.

"That's convenient," Odd said.

"Hush Odd," Yumi said. "You're going to end up jinxing us with all of your comments."

"Pfft," was the blonde's response. "I don't believe in jinxes."

Just as Odd finished speaking a dull rumbling sounded, followed by two Megatanks rolling out from behind the tower.

_Dun-duh-dunnn!_

"That is so annoying," Ulrich muttered.

"You were saying?" Yumi asked Odd flatly.

"Meer coincidence," Odd said. He then had to dive to the ground as one of the Megatanks fired off its wall like laser.

"What do we do now?" Ulrich shouted as he dived in the other direction to avoid the second Megatank's attack.

"What else?" Odd answered. He then leapt to his feet and started sprinting towards the Megatanks. Ulrich shook his head at his friend's recklessness, and then jumped to his feet himself and supersprinted towards the other monster. He soon pulled ahead of Odd, who shouted something and shook his fist, reaching his Megatank just as it slid back open to prepare for another attack. Seeing his opening Ulrich pounced, swinging down on the monster sword first.

"Impact!" Ulrich shouted and then bounced away, leaving an exploding monster in his wake. Odd, who had been distracted by Ulrich's attack, missed his own opening and was forced to dodge to the side to avoid the Megatank's attack. The monster quickly popped back open, but before Odd could take aim on it a fan came whizzing around from behind him, curving towards the monster's eye and taking it out in a neat explosion of data bits.

"Good shot Yumi!" Ulrich called to the girl as she and Aelita jogged up to meet the boys.

"I could have gotten it," Odd said with a scowl. Yumi shrugged.

"You were taking too long," she said.

"Well, that was Ulrich's fault," Odd said.

"My fault?" Ulrich asked incredulously. "What do you mean my fault?"

"If you didn't need to be all flashy with your fighting I wouldn't have been distracted," Odd answered flatly. Ulrich's eyes went wide and he opened his mouth to argue back.

"Um, guys?" Aelita said, cutting him off. The trio turned to look at her.

"Oh, right," Odd said. He then turned and motioned over dramatically at the tower. "After you princess!" The pink haired girl jogged past him and into the tower, melting through the tower wall with ease. The group then waited for a minute as Aelita did whatever it was she did in the towers and once it had returned to a less sinister color prepared for the familiar journey of Jeremy bringing them back home.

"That was a pretty good mission," Yumi admitted as she stepped out of her scanner, swatting absently at the steam curled around her legs. "What did you guys thin- I'll just turn around now."

"I've almost got it back on," Ulrich groused, tucking his towel, which had, like Odd's, fallen off on arrival, back around his waist.

"You know," Odd said, "this doesn't feel half bad."

"Odd," Yumi said, "If you don't put that towel back on right now I swear I will kill you right here and now."

"No appreciation for creative expression," Odd muttered, though he bent over and retrieved his towel. Once both boys were adequately covered the trio headed for the elevator.

"So, as I was saying," Yumi said, "How did you think it went?"

"We won," Odd said. "What else is there to think about?"

"Well, really me and Yumi won," Ulrich said. "We're the ones who beat the Megatanks."

"Yeah, so I guess you lost," Yumi said, winking at Odd. The blonde glared at the pair as he punched the elevator's up button.

"Yeah, well, I was amazing. So there."

"…so?" Ulrich asked.

"So," Odd said, "It cancels out."

"Never heard that one before," Yumi said.

"That's because Odd made it up to safe face," Ulrich explained.

"Did not!" Odd shouted. "I-

The blonde was suddenly cut off by a groan from the elevator.

"Not again," Ulrich moaned as the car once more lurched to a stop. He then put his hands out with a sigh as Odd walked over, the brunet preparing to lift his friend up towards the ceiling hatch towards for the second time that day. Odd sighed back at him.

"This? Is karma," he said. "For making me lawnmower bait."

"Just shut up and climb."

_-"Amazing beats winning every day."-_

Jeremy turned away from the elevator doors, sighing and shaking his head at the sounds of his friends arguing just beyond them. Setting his headset down on the keyboard Jeremy reached for the keys that would initiate the return to the past. Then after they were back at a school he could see about fixing the elevator.

A bang echoed from the elevator shaft, followed by Ulrich's cursing. A comment from Odd came next. And now they…was that them wrestling he could here? Hitting the enter key, Jeremy sighed once more.

He could get the elevator fixed. Or he could just stay in bed this time. Just as he thought it another bang and a shout echoed from the shaft, followed by laughter.

Yeah, staying in bed was looking pretty good. He'd already saved the world once today; the rest could wait 'till tomorrow.


End file.
